Kim Dotcom plans Megaupload relaunch

Controversial online entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has revealed plans to relaunch the Megaupload web storage system in January 2017.

The original Megaupload file-sharing site was immensely popular and was reported to have about 50 million users a day at its peak, before being shut down in 2012 following accusations by the US that copyright pirates made heavy use of it.

The new service would reinstate the accounts of all former users of the original Megaupload, said Dotcom.

Plans for the revived Megaupload were revealed in a number of tweets by the German-born entrepreneur, who now lives in New Zealand. He said it would be formally launched on January 20th – five years to the day since his home was raided by police investigating the pirated material available via Megaupload.

Since the raid, Dotcom has waged a lengthy legal battle to fight accusations that he profited from others abusing Megaupload and to recover the assets seized at the time. He is also fighting attempts to extradite him to the US to face trial over his control of Megaupload.